My fellow bible students. This question, like many others can be clarified by the use of a complete Bible condordance, the best literal translations, lexicons and other tools .
I hope all of you have at least a concordance, to check out what I'm saying.
For clarity: I was taught that the traditional, popular view of "hell" is a place, usually located in the depths of the earth, where disembodied "spirits" of "souls" of the wicked will go upon death, and be in conscious torment. But, I have since learned that this is not in the Scriptures.
"Hell" is an interpretaion, not a translation of three words in the Greek manuscripts.
One word is "geenna" which is used 12 times by Jesus in his earthly ministry, and is always rendered "hell". But, a bible dictionary or encyclopedia tells us geenna was outside the walls of Jerusalem where the refuse was dumped and fires were continually kept burning to help purify the air and destroy any refuse. Also, worms were always there to feed on the unburned refuse or bodies.
So, it was a place on the earth during Jesus time, and, IMO, will be again outside the restored Jerusalem in the Millennial kingdom yet to come. See Isa.66:23-24. Our Lord definitely ties this in in Mark 9:47.
Another word is "hades". The meaning of this from Greek philosophy is "the unseen world", and there may be other meanings, but we must stay we the Biblical meaning.
Acts 2:27 "You will not abandon my soul to hades" is quoted from Psa. 16:10 "For thou dost not give me up to Sheol.." We see that hades is the equivalent of sheol. And sheol means the "unseen" or "the grave" depending on context.
The word occurs 11 times and in the AV is rendered "hell" in all but one time where it is rendered "grave." So, "hades" is not a place of torment. It should be translated as "grave" or "the unseen", depending on context.
The last word is "tartaroo" which Peter utilized in 2 Pet. 2:4, meaning literally "to thrust down to Tartarus." Tartarus was a Greek word not used any where else in the originals. Homer describes it as subterranean. The verse in the RSV reads thus:
"For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them down into hell (Tartarus--foot note) and committed them to pits of nether gloom to be kept until the judgement; " The sinning angels are being kept in pits of darkness awaiting their judging. It is not a place of firey torment.
To conclude this post: The Lord warned of the fires of geenna, because in the millennial kingdom with Christ on the throne, even what a person says or thinks in his heart, may be enough to be judged before the Sanhedren and be killed and his body thrown into geenna.
There is no "hell" where "disembodied souls" can be punished.
Bick